


Melodic Dreams

by SweetDreamsDarling



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Coming Out, Cute Dan Howell/Phil Lester, Dan Howell and Phil Lester Are Teenagers, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Music, Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 07:11:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14444094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetDreamsDarling/pseuds/SweetDreamsDarling
Summary: Dan Howell spends all his time in the music rooms. He isn’t always practicing, contrary to popular belief, he spends most of his time balled up in the warmth scrolling through Tumblr to take his mind off all the things that plagued him. Until there was someone talking to him, someone who knew him, and he had no idea who they were. Until he did.High school AU





	Melodic Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> This is a work of fiction, so obviously none of this is true and I don't claim it to be

The atmosphere around school was a free one, people were getting ready for school to end and their lessons had begun to slack. It was a busy time for the creative students though, they had a performance to prepare for that ran the last 3 days of the school year.

Dan was in the band for the piece, he’d get involved in whatever they needed him for and they always got him to play piano. His abilities weren’t just limited to piano, he could play guitar, clarinet, flute, and the violin. He’d get a lot of trouble for it, his peers regarded them as ‘girly’ instruments and they made it known too. He’d yell at them for being too much in the past, but that just got eye rolls and harsh laughs in response.   
So, for the past 6 months, Dan decided to shut himself away from everybody. He asked the director if he could stay in and practice at every break he got, to which he got a smile and a nod.

Over time the director stopped asking Dan why he was hiding himself away so much, he didn’t seem particularly sad or anything like that, so he guessed it was just Dan being Dan. That being said, Dan was quite peculiar, he didn’t socialise much, yet he was always in a world of his own or on his phone. No one really knew what went on inside his head. He never said. As far as he was concerned, if he had his instruments and a quiet place to be he was content.

* * *

 

The practice rooms had a wooden smell to them, like an old cottage somewhere in the woods, it was quite comforting. The windows had a film on them that stopped people from looking in, so it cast a warm orange glow across the small rooms. The floors were wooden too, a break from the harsh scratchy carpet that the classrooms were covered in, and the walls were plaster painted magnolia to add a bit of brightness. No one really knew the colour of the walls, but Dan had gotten used to them through the months. They were warm in summer, but not too warm, and the winters were cosy with the radiator that was there. That too was painted magnolia. They weren’t anything special, but were almost a second home for Dan.

Most of the time Dan would put his coat on the floor and curl up on his phone. He was rather embarrassed to admit it, but he had a Tumblr blog where he gushed over celebrities and shared things about music. It was a safe space for him, and people actually liked him there. There were the weird blogs that came up occasionally, but he was glad about the community of people he’d built up following him. He’d interact with people who followed him, and they’d get behind him whenever there was hate there. Dan belonged somewhere. Finally, he belonged.

It was probably a bad idea for people to allow people to send them anonymous asks, but Dan liked the mystery behind it all and he often sent them himself. While he loved interacting, and knew people didn’t know the face behind _‘starstruckdan’_ it still made him embarrassed to send love to his favourite blogs publicly.

His followers knew that he was bi, he just had a stronger preference towards men, but he was still bisexual no matter what. No one else knew, it didn’t come up. While his school prided itself on being accepted, coming out would send him further down the social ladder – if that was even possible. It was nice to have a secret sometimes, other times it was excruciating. His parents wouldn’t understand it and they’d probably call it a phase. It was just easier to keep it all locked inside. No one could hurt him then.

* * *

 

It was nice for Dan to be away from the rushing people outside, he had music and that gave him a free period because he had nothing to do other than prepare for the performance. He went on Tumblr, not expecting anything other than to refresh his dashboard and see someone ranting about how hard a score was to play. Surprisingly, there was an ask in his inbox. He usually only got asks after school and during the night, so it was nice to have it there.   
  
_‘Hi Dan! You don’t know who I am, but I think you’re very beautiful.’_

It made his heart stutter, but it also frightened him. Was it real? Or fake? Was it someone taunting him? He took a deep breath, mind sorting through all the possible scenarios, then decided on an answer: _‘Such a sweetie! But that means you must know me, right?’_. And the plan was to see exactly when the next reply rolled in. If it was during the school day, then it would either be a trouble-maker or someone who was making an assumption about him. Part of him hoped it’d lead to a friendship. One that wasn’t confined to Tumblr.

The bell rang at the end of the period, he had one left until he could run home and lock himself up in his room. English was always a drag, but they were just watching a movie to finish off the year. He’d seen all the generic movies they had time and time again, he could practically quote The Hunger Games word for word.

As he walked into the class, everyone was scattered around the room with little bags of popcorn. His teacher threw one at him, then nodded so Dan could recede to the back of the class and sit on his own to get absorbed into the movie.

About half way through, Dan felt a little uneasy, as if someone was watching him. The room was completely dark, and he couldn’t see if anyone was. No one would want to take any notice of him anyway, he was a loner. Dan just wasn’t worth the attention, at least that’s what he thought of himself.

Nonetheless, the school bell rang, and Dan ran out of the classroom. He’d usually wait until he was the last one, but he could wait to get home and see if the mystery person had messaged him back. He lived a 25-minute walk from the school, it was long compared to a lot of people who went there, so it was dire that he rushed all the way back home. He needed to see when they’d answer, maybe he’d get a clue as to who they were.

He got home within 15 minutes, running through the door and not even stopping to say hello to his parents – not that he ever really did. He ran into his room, dumped his bag on the floor and sat on his bed in front of his laptop.

Dan never really shut down his laptop, it was always left on standby, so he could pick it up whenever, and it opened straight on the Tumblr login page. It was surprising his keyboard didn’t set on fire with how fast he typed in his details, not that that would be anything like the fire that he felt inside him at the excitement of looking in his inbox. Just as he expected, there was an ask waiting right there for him.

_‘I know you, but I’m not sure if you’d know me. But just know this, it’d be an honour for you to sing me to sleep one day.’_

Dan’s heart leaped at that, he thought people saying that was only a cliché. Whether it was from excitement, or from him being ridiculously unfit and running up the stairs, Dan’s hands were shaking as he went to answer the mysterious person. _‘I’d love to sing you to sleep, if only I know who you were… Hint?’_

As if the person was poised, waiting for Dan to reply to him, another ask appeared. Not wanting to seem too eager himself, Dan checked his notifications. There was a load of his followers commenting on the ask, wanting to find out who the person was and calling it a cute occurrence, one or two people were a little hateful, but people seemed to have jumped in to defend Dan. It felt good having people who didn’t even know him be there for him, it was more than anyone ever had done.

_‘From fear of you guessing me too quickly, I’ll give you this – P’_

A letter. “How am I supposed to guess from that?!” Dan groaned, flopping back on his bed and pulling his brain apart. For some reason, he thought there was about 3 people with their name starting with that letter, and he had a year photo hanging around in his bed. It was a cast off from his doing yearbook the previous year.

Dan took a silver gel pen from the wooden elephant carved pot that he kept beside his bed and began crossing off the people that he knew the names of. He knew most of the people, and the ones he didn’t only took a quick Facebook search to identify. At the end of it there were a total of 5 suspects. Before Dan could do anything with the information, he heard his mum calling him for dinner.

* * *

 

“Nice of you to actually join us and come out your room.” His dad grumbled, not even bothering to look up at his son. “I can easily go back.” Dan retorted, used to his dad’s pathetic comments. It was as if Dan wasn’t the right boy for him, he wasn’t someone who loved football and he spent most of his time in his room or at the piano – that was situated in the spare room.

“Why are you so happy?” His dad asked, raising his eyebrows at Dan, trying to catch him out.  
“I perfected a piano piece that I’ve been working on for months.”   
“I haven’t heard you playing, so why are you so happy?”

It was as if Dan’s mum was on a timer, as soon as his dad finished the sentence she walked in with a plate of lasagne for all of them. “Settle down you two, eat up.”

It took Dan 10 minutes to finish his food, and then he excused himself from the table, earning a petty comment from his dad before he left.

5 people, there were 5 people who the anon could be. 2 girls: Patience, a girl who kept herself to herself and hated absolutely everyone; and Penelope, who had a loving boyfriend already. And 3 boys: Perry, a quiet boy who hung around with Patience; Patryk, long term boyfriend of Penelope; Phil, a sweet boy who loved gardening and ran the club for it; and Parker, a sporty guy who stuck up for everyone who needed it. Penelope and Patryk were out of the question, and that left 3 people.

He hadn’t replied to the previous message, so he went ahead and did it: _‘Hmm, well that gives me some idea. Anything else?’_

Dan had no homework to do, it was the end of the school year so teachers just didn’t bother about giving them any. He lied to his parents and said he had some, meaning they’d leave him alone for longer. Unfortunately, his parents could be quite nosy.

Somehow Dan managed to fall asleep, his laptop was on his thighs but all he was doing was sleeping, nothing else. That wasn’t too clear to his mum, he woke up when his door creaked open but didn’t sit up. “Dan- Oh! Oh no, Dan I’m sorry. I- I didn’t. Oh no, I’m-“ She was stuttering over her words as she hid her face in her hands. “Mum! I’m not doing anything, I just fell asleep.” He assured, then sat up, holding his laptop so it didn’t fall. “Oh, okay honey.” She seemed to gulp and then look at the carpet. “Mum? What’s wrong?” Dan looked at her, he’d never really seen his mum crying, but it broke his heart to see now. “Your dad, I asked him to go easier on you, and I’m so sorry that he’s the way he is. Daniel, I’m so so sorry, but we love you. We are both so proud of you, we just wished you’d open up to us more and tell us what’s going on inside that head of yours.” She walked over and ruffled his curly hair, he’d ditched his straighteners a few weeks previous.

“Mum, my life is about as interesting as a mouldy lemon, I do nothing.” He sighed, moving his laptop and closing it slightly to stop her seeing. “But you seem so balled up, I’ll always love you Dan.” That hit him. Did she know? Did she go on his laptop while he wasn’t around? Had someone told her?  “I’m not hiding anything mum, I’m just doing work. That’s it. All of it. Anything you’ve heard is wrong.” He was rushing over his sentences too fast for them to be coherent.

Silence came between them. “I haven’t heard anything.” She stepped back and smiled, it was a weak one, but it was something. “Keep your chin up.” And with that, she left Dan to his own devices. He wanted to go to the spare room and practice the piano a little, but his body seemed to be glued to his laptop. He wanted to find out now who it was, he needed to.

Dan fell asleep again, this time it was for the night, and when he woke up he groggily checked Tumblr once again. Part of him thought that he’d dreamed up the whole scenario. As enough proof, there were 2 asks from the mysterious P.

_‘I have a class with you tomorrow, I’ll throw a small note at you telling you where to meet me after?’_   
_‘You must’ve gone to sleep, maybe one day it’ll be beside me. Sleep well gorgeous.’_

Dan couldn’t believe it, he was so enthusiastic for the day ahead. He replied with a simple winking face, then jumped out his bed to get ready. He didn’t have to wear uniform, so he had to make sure he looked absolutely fantastic for who he was going to meet. He didn’t really mind which one of the 3 people it was, or what was going to come after, but his curiosity was getting the better of him. He opted for a black tee with an eclipse motif, and his usual black jeans.

He went downstairs to grab some toast for his walk, and he must’ve had an elated expression plastered on his face. “Someone’s going to have a good day.” His mum mused, smiling as she handed him a buttered slice of toast, “And you don’t have to be home until 9 remember!” She grinned, loving the smile on his face. “Thanks mum!” Then he dashed away.

* * *

  
  
“I haven’t seen him quite as happy for ages.” She slid a slice of toast to her husband, who had his head in the newspaper. “I’ve got something to tell you about that boy.” He grumbled, folding the paper and setting it down on the table beside him. Sit.” He called Daniel a ton of names, each more disgusting then the last. “If you don’t like our child, you can leave. He loves who he wants, and you should’ve never went on his private laptop.”

* * *

 

Dan nearly ran into people as he went to school, his mind had floated up to the clouds and was frolicking with the fairies. People looked at him a little weirdly, they weren’t used to him being like this – everyone knew the quiet, strange boy who hid from the world in a music room, not one that acted like he was as high as the sky.

Naturally, Dan didn’t concentrate in any of his lessons, he just sat waiting until some paper hit him, or someone tapped him.

Period 1. Nothing.

Period 2. Nothing

Period 3. Nothing.

Period 4. Nothing.

He’d lost most of his hope, the skip in his step gone. English was his 5th lesson of the day, and it was even worse knowing he’d been strung along, or at least that’s what he thought had happened. The teacher put on another movie, then walked out the room. The second she left, Dan felt a tap on his neck. There was a note.

‘Hey Dan, meet me on the park? I’ll be on the swings.’

Then, when Dan looked up, someone had left the classroom. He thought it wouldn’t be, but he thought it could be the person that he was due to meet. It was either Parker or Phil, they were both in the classes he was in.

When the bell went, the teacher wasn’t back, so everyone just ran out the classroom without being dismissed. Who cared? It was nearly summer anyway.

The park was a mere 5 minutes away walking, and Dan was spurred on with an anxious delight; this made it only take about 2.

There was no one else at the park other than a boy concealed in a hoodie. Neither Phil or Parker had a hoodie on, Patience just didn’t turn up for school. He walked down the small hill, stomach doing high jumps with anxiety. The gate was left ajar, probably so the person at the swing wouldn’t hear Dan. They were swinging gently on their feet, barely even rocking.   
  
“P?” Dan asked, standing a little back in case he needed to run away. The person looked at him, eyes wide behind black thickly framed glasses, and his mouth came to a half-smile. “Hey Dan. I’m sorry it’s disappointing, I didn’t think you-“ Before he could finish the sentence, Dan had run to him and was hugging him. It was quite awkward with him being on the swing, but they managed. “It’s not a disappointment, I couldn’t ask for anyone better.”   
  
The two sat swinging for a while, Phil told Dan how he’d admired him from afar and loved everything about him but never knew he was bisexual. Phil revealed that he was gay, and had had feelings for Dan for a long while. Dan told Phil about his dad, and about how he’d shy away in the music room because of everyone judging him.

They spoke about life and all what went on until the sun went down, it was dusk when they finally started walking. Phil found out that Dan only lived 2 streets away from him, his house was on Phil’s way home, so he could walk him right there.

They stopped at the bottom of Dan’s street, they didn’t like having to untangle their hands. “Dan, can I kiss you?” Phil asked, looking at him with worried eyes. He really wanted to, but thought it was too early to ask if he could. “I’d love you to.” Neither of them experienced it before, so it was a little messy and it made them laugh in embarrassment afterwards. Phil blushed a deep crimson after and wrapped his arms around Dan one last time before they’d have to act like they didn’t know each other.

“See you tomorrow!” Phil called out as Dan walked up to his door, Phil got out of sight quickly, so no one saw.

Dan’s mum was standing in the hall. “Mum?” Dan’s eyes rounded in fright, he hoped that she hadn’t seen a thing. “Come here.” She opened her arms and Dan went to hug her. It had been ages since they hugged, it felt secure and a pang of longing hit Dan. “I need to talk to you about your father.” She sighed, taking Dan into their lounge and sitting him down.

His dad wasn’t there, his car wasn’t either. “Have you split up?” Dan asked, but he wasn’t particularly upset by it. “Yes sweetie, but I need to tell you why. You see, he called you some despicable, nasty names. You don’t have to tell me, but he’d been on your laptop and he- he said you were gay Daniel.” She reached and put her hand on his knee, her eyes kept on his as he looked around the room. “I’m not gay, I’m bisexual…” His voice trailed off, he knew his mum knew what that was.

After a pause of his mum thinking about what to say, she patted his knee and smiled, “So, I’ve got someone to talk about guys with!” She chuckled, Dan started to giggle too. “Muuuum!”   
“But, are you going to tell me what that excitement was about this morning? You were acting like a teen for once Dan. Never thought I’d see it!”   
“There was this boy, he sent me some messages anonymously and I know him from school – Phil – so he left a note and I found out who he was. We hung out at the park and talked until dusk, then…” He remembered how he had to part his hands. “Then we had to stop holding hands at the bottom of this street. I got scared someone would see us, and he was scared too.” It felt good to say it.

“Well, tomorrow I’ll be out when you get back from school. If you want to, you can invite Phil back here and you don’t have to be scared. Just don’t get up to things I’d disapprove of.” She waggled her finger playfully, and Dan’s eyes were alight when she said what she did. “You mean that? I can have Phil back here? Thank you so much!” He flung his arms around his mum and squeezed.   
  
He messaged Phil, then told his mum that they planned on hanging out and playing videogames, to which she replied that she hoped it wasn’t code. “I love you Dan.” She said that night, and Phil said it too.   


* * *

  
  
The next day, Dan wasn’t alone in the music room.

 


End file.
